ABSTRACT
Africa and India share interlinked past of mutual empathy and path of freedom from domination and discrimination. Both are on a journey of remarkable cultural intermingling and people-to-people relations. The relations date back to several centuries, “Periplus of the Erythraean Sea” documenting the Indians’ presence in East Africa as back as 60 AD. The accounts of Venetian traveller Marco Polo signify the strengthening of Indo-African relationship during the Islamic age. The trade network established between Indian coast and Swahili coast was possible because of the physical proximity of the regions facilitated by the easy navigation through Indian ocean. Both India and Africa being resource-rich regions found a sense of similarity in being victims to the injustice and exploitation during the colonial era. Mahatma Gandhi formed a link during this time when he began his political career in South Africa and leading the movement of Indians’ rights in African soil against the racial discrimination by the colonial powers. The techniques of Satyagraha that Gandhi adopted in Africa prepared him in securingIndia’s Independence. And this is how the decolonisation acted as a rallying point in India—Africa relationship. Historians tell us the relation sprouted because of the people-to-people ties in the both regions. The colonial times marked the migration of Indian indentured labourers and Merchants to African soil. Art and culture have been an effective and faster growing medium of strengthening the Indo-African ties. May it be the “Canoeists in Cairo” or the love among Kenyians for Indian cinema. Nollywood (Nigeria) and Bollywood (Mumbai) have seen growing ties in recent times and we can soon see some great projects in near future. Art, craft and cuisine similarly have left equal influence on both civilisations. In current times, multilateral engagement and cooperation in trade, maritime affair, security and capacity building justifies the importance that Indo-African relation holds in international affairs. However, the relation has faced its fair share of turbulence. The Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to a new world that resulted into a testing hour for the Indo-African relation.
